Sign support post



April 4, 1%?

Filed March 6, 1964 w. N. STEINMANN 3312mm SIGN SUPPORT POST 2 Sheets-Sheet l A INVENTOR WILLIAM N. STEINMANN ATTORNEY April 4, 1957 w. N. STEINMANN 3,312,034

SIGN SUPPORT POST Filed March 6, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 l s4- I & l

\ INVENTOR WILLIAM N. STEiINMANN r BY m ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofitice 3,3l2,fl34 Patented Apr. 4, 1967 3,312,034 SIGN SUPPORT POST William N. Steinmann, Indian Hill, Ohio, assignor to The Poilalr Steel Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Mar. 6, 1964, Ser. No. 349,872 Claims. (Cl. 52-731) This invention relates to supports for signs and more particularly to a sign support assembly, support elements of which are separately useful yet of such nature that they may be assembled as herein provided to give a reinforced sign support.

With the tremendous expansion of highways the problem of highway sign maintenance has been greatly magnified, simply because the number of signs necessary to direct the ever increasing number of motorists increases, and the geographical dispersion of these signs increases. Anything which reduces the frequency with which inspection trips must be made, and the frequency with which repairs must be made to signs and sign supports, is highly desirable.

Maintenance and repair become necessary where signs or sign supports prove inadequate in standing up to the conditions encountered in service. The result where inadequate signs or sign supports are employed can be fallen or bent signs, and deformed or fallen supports. Failure in service occurs because of lack of strength in a given support to withstand conditions of wind and weather while carrying a sign of greater or lesser area. Failure is often a direct consequence of the fact that maintenance crews do not or cannot carry sign sup-ports of different strength characteristics, though signs of different weight and configuration may be employed. For this reason, on occasion, a support without sufficient strength to support the given sign has been employed. Conversely, sign supports of strength far greater than necessary have sometimes been used, making for an unnecessarily expensive installation.

It is the primary object of this invention to place a sign support assembly in the hands of those who install and maintain signs, support elements of which support assembly may be used separately where lesser strength is needed to erect a sign, and combined into the support assembly where greater strength is required.

Another object herein is to provide means so that supf port elements may be readily and securely combined in the field without the need for special tools or talents. Nothing more complex than a hammer is necessary to carry out the union, and union is still possible if even a hammer is not at hand. Yet disassembly is not easy once the union is made, so that support assemblies embodying the present invention are safe from those who would maliciously destroy property. On the other hand, disassembly, though not easy, is possible. By utilizing the present invention in a sign support section, an installation crew has at its disposal means to care for an enhanced range of strength requirements in sign supports with a lesser number of separate sizes of support.

Still another object is to provide a sign support assembly comprised of separately useful support elements which may be combined into a unique assembly displaying a closed section, which makes for unusually desirable strength properties.

An additional object is to provide sign support elements which may be united by pairs into a reinforced highly desirable closed section which elements are themselves of a unique and stronger section than heretofore known sections. For a unit length a single support conforming to the present invention will have a greater ability to withstand bending stresses than posts having the same weight per unit length which were formerly known. While improvements in sign support assemblies are herein contemplated, the improvement at the same time of the con stituent supports is a very important and desirable contribution to the art.

How these and many other objects are to be implemented will become clear through a consideration of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows in perspective a sign mounted on a sign support assembly embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 .is an elevational view of a post employed in an assembly embodying the present invention, and showing clamping devices for holding the posts together, one of the clamping devices being broken away in the drawing to show its constituent elements;

FIG. 3 is a section taken at 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken at 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevational View of a post and clamping devices, in which a second embodiment of clamping device is shown;

FIG. 6 is a section taken at 6-6 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a section taken at 77 of FIG. 6.

In the drawings 10 is a sign support assembly on which a sign 11 may be mounted. The assembly It may be footed in the ground or concrete 12. The sign may be secured to the assembly by means of bolts 12a.

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show an assembly in which a first em bodiment of clamping device is employed, while FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show an assembly utilizing a second embodiment of clamping device.

Considering first the embodiment of FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the assembly includes two identical posts, 13 and 14. (On occasion such posts may be referred to in the specification and the claims herein as support elements) Post 13 has a web portion 15, legs 16 and 17, and flanges 18 and 19 extending from legs 16 and 17 respectively. Post 14 has web 22, legs 23 and 24, and flanges 25 and 26 extending from legs 23 and 24- respectively. Flange 18 has a mating surface 29 and a groove 30 in the obverse side of flange 18, adjacent leg 16. It will be observed that flange 18 is thicker at edge 31 of the flange 18 than at groove 30. Similarly flange 19 has mating surface 32, groove 33 and edge 34. In post 14, flange 25 has mating surface 35, groove 36 and edge 37, while flange 26 has mating surface 3-8, groove 39 and edge 40. In the assembly it will be seen that mating surfaces 29 and 35 of flanges 18 and 25 respectively are in contact, While mating surfaces 32 and 38 of flanges 19 and 26 respectively are in contact.

Clamping devices are employed to hold the flanges in such contact. The clamping devices provided are such that they may be readily applied to pairs of separate posts in the field. Two clamping devices are illustrated in FIGS. 2-4, one being disposed on either side of an assembly.

Clamping device 43 includes coupling member 44, and it will be seen that coupling member 44- has skirt portions 45 and 46. Each skirt portion extends over a groove. For example, skirt portion 45 extends over groove 30in flange 18, while skirt portion 45 extends over groove 36 in flange 25. There is an interior channel 47 in skirt portion 45, and a like channel 48 in skirt portion 46. From FIG. 3 it is apparent that channel 4-7 is disposed opposite groove 30, while channel 43 is disposed opposite groove 36. For clamping device 43 then to aid in maintaining posts 13 and 14 in their assembled relationship, tapered locking pin members 49 and 5d of the clamping device 43 are driven into place as may best be seen in FIG. 4. Thus pin 49 when driven into place is in tight frictional engagement both with channel 47 of the skirt portion of the coupling member, and

groove 30 in flange 18. Pin 50 is in tight engagement with channel 48 in skirt portion 46 and groove 36 of flange 25. Pins 49 and 50 may readily be driven into place in the field by means of a hammer.

On the other side of the assembly seen in FIG. 3, clamping device 53 has a coupling member 54 with skirt portions 55 and 56. There is a channel 57 formed in skirt portion 55, and a channel 58 in skirt portion 56. Tapered locking pins 59 and 60 frictionally lock coupling member 54 in place, so that clamping device 53 eflectively holds posts 113 and 14 against each other.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIGS. -7, again there is a pair of posts 63 and 64. Post 63 has a web portion 65, legs 66 and 67, and flanges 68 and 69 extending from legs 66 and 67 respectively. Flange 68 has mating surface 70, groove 71 and outer edge 72, while flange 69 has mating surface 73, groove 74 and outer edge 75.

Similarly post 64 has web 78, legs 79 and 80 and flanges 81 and 82 extending from legs 79 and 80 respectively. Flange 81 has mating surface 83, groove 84, and outer edge 85, while flange 82 has mating surface 86-, groove 87, and edge 88. Posts 63 and 64 are maintained in assembled relationship by means of clamping devices 89 and 90. Clamping device 89 has skirt portions 93 and 94 in coupling member 95. A bead 96 is formed on the inner part of skirt portion 93, such bead 96 fitting into engagement with groove 71 in flange 68. In order to assemble the sign support, it is apparent that post 63 and 64 need only be brought together with flanges in contact. Clamping device 89 is placed over flanges 68 and 81 with bead 96 in engagement with the groove 71 in flange 68. Tapered locking pin 97 is driven into frictional engagement with groove 84 in flange 81, and also channel 98 in skirt portion 94. Since bead 96 is integral with coupling member 95, it is necessary to drive only a single locking pin into place in order to secure the assembly.

In like manner it will be recognized that clamping device 90 consists of a coupling member 99 having depending skirt portions 100 and 101. These is a bead 102 on the inner surface of skirt portion 101, integral there with, which can fit into groove 87. Channel 103 is formed in skirt portion 100, and is disposed opposite groove 74. Tapered locking pin 104 is driven into place in frictional engagement both with groove 74 and channel 103 to enable clamping device 90 to assist in maintaining posts 63 and 64 in assembled relationship.

I claim:

1. A sign support assembly comprising a first and second post, each post having a pair of legs, a web connecting said legs, and a flange extending from each said leg, each said flange having a mating side and an obverse side to said mating side, each said obverse side of each flange having a groove portion adjacent said leg from which that flange extends, each said flange being thicker at its outer edge than at said groove portion, the mating sides of said flanges in said first post being in contact with the mating sides of said flanges in said second post, and :a plurality of clamping devices for maintaining said first and second posts in abutting relationship, each of said clamping devices comprising a coupling member having skirt portions, said skirt portions extending over the said groove portion in one flange of said first post and one flange of said second post, each skirt portions [having a channel therein, and tapered locking pins frictionally engaging said channels in said skirt portion of said coupling member and said groove portions in said flanges of said posts,

2. A sign support assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said assembly in section has an essentially hexagonal shape.

3. A sign support assembly comprising a first and second post, each post having a pair of legs, a web connecting said legs, and a flange extending from each said leg, each said flange having a mating side and an obverse side to said mating side, each said obverse side of each flange having a groove portion adjacent said leg from which that flange extends, each said flange being thicker at its outer edge than at said groove portion, the mating sides of said flanges in said first post being in contact with the mating sides of said flanges in said second post, and a plurality of clamping devices for maintaining said first and second posts in abutting relationship, each of said clamping devices comprising a coupling member having skirt portions, said skirt portions extending over the said groove portion in one flange of said first post and one flange of said second post, an internal channel in one of said skirt portions, and an integral internal bead in the other of said skirt portions, said bead being in engagement with said groove portion in one flange of said first post, and a tapered locking pin frictionally engaging said internal channel and said groove portion in one flange of said second post.

4. A sign support assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein said assembly in section has an essentially hexagonal shape.

5. A sign support assembly comprising a first and second post, each post having a pair of legs, a web connecting said legs, and a flange extending from each said leg, each said flange having a mating side and an obverse side to said mating side, each said obverse side of each flange having a groove portion adjacent said leg from which that flange extends, each said flange being thicker at its outer edge than at said groove portion, the mating sides of said flanges in said first post being in contact with the mating sides of said flanges in said second post, and a plurality of clamping devices for maintaining said first and second posts in abutting relationship, each of said clamping devices comprising a coupling member having two skirt portions, said skirt portions extending over the said groove portion in one flange of said first post and one flange of said second post, at least one of said skirt portions having a channel therein, and a tapered locking pin frictionally engaging said channel in said one skirt portion of said coupling member and a groove portion in one of said flanges of said post, and means on said second skirt portion cooperating with the other groove in the other flange thereby holding the posts in an assembled relationship.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,109,695 9/1914 Mosler et al. 287189.36 1,723,307 8/1929 Sipe 287189.36 2,062,686 12/1936 Toussaint 6l4 3,093,223 5/1963 Federico 287189.36

FOREIGN PATENTS 93 6,022 7/ 1956 Germany. 178,591 1922 Great Britain.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD W. COOKE, JR., Examiner.

L. R. RADANOVIC, M. O. WARNECKE,

Assistant Examiners, 

5. A SIGN SUPPORT ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A FIRST AND SECOND POST, EACH POST HAVING A PAIR OF LEGS, A WEB CONNECTING SAID LEGS, AND A FLANGE EXTENDING FROM EACH SAID LEG, EACH SAID FLANGE HAVING A MATING SIDE AND AN OBVERSE SIDE TO SAID MATING SIDE, EACH SAID OBVERSE SIDE OF EACH FLANGE HAVING A GROOVE PORTION ADJACENT SAID LEG FROM WHICH THAT FLANGE EXTENDS, EACH SAID FLANGE BEING THICKER AT ITS OUTER EDGE THAN AT SAID GROOVE PORTION, THE MATING SIDES OF SAID FLANGES IN SAID FIRST POST BEING IN CONTACT WITH THE MATING SIDES OF SAID FLANGES IN SAID SECOND POST, AND A PLURALITY OF CLAMPING DEVICES FOR MAINTAINING SAID FIRST AND SECOND POSTS IN ABUTTING RELATIONSHIP, EACH OF SAID 